Neurolinguistics

I started the master Neurolinguistics after getting my bachelor’s degree in Linguistics in Groningen. Neurolinguistics was an obvious choice, since I minored in Speech Therapy during my bachelor. This master is entirely in Dutch and closely related to the bachelor Linguistics. There are three mandatory courses during the first semester: dyslexia, language development disorders, and aphasiology. Each course starts with an introduction, including new theory and recent research in their respective discipline. Next, you’ll do your own research, partly in groups and individually. You’ll be graded on a paper and a presentation. During the second semester, you’ll be doing an internship and write your thesis as well.

I’m still very happy with my choice to do Neurolinguistics. The program is closely related to the bachelor Linguistics, and there’s a lot of new theory as well with a more in-depth approach. All courses are 10EC (European Credits), which means that you’ll do three courses over the course of one semester (and therefore only have three teachers). During the master, you’re a lot closer to the teachers than during the bachelor. I really like doing an internship. At the moment I’m an intern at a rehabilitation centre in Apeldoorn, where I can apply what I learned in both the bachelor and master. Among other things, I analyze spontaneous speech of aphasia patients, and interpret test scores of, for instance, the PALPA and the CAT.

At first, I had to get a little used to the group. During the bachelor, I knew all of my classmates, but in the master there are a lot of speech therapists, who ended up in the master after doing a bachelor in speech therapy and a pre-master Linguistics. As these students have more hands-on experience, we can learn a lot from each other.

I’m hoping to complete my internship and thesis this semester, and can officially call myself a clinical linguist!